natsar · keep, guard

What it means

natsar (נָצַר) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “keep, guard”.

Keep, watch over, preserve.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. To be watchful in looking after and protecting someone or something.
2. To put into practice what is commanded and guard it like a treasure.
3. To surround a city so that no one goes out or in.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To keep, watch over with care; to keep watch from a post. It is said of tending a vineyard or a fig tree, protecting a person and keeping the instruction. The participle names the watchmen.

• YHWH keeps his people Deuteronomy 32:10Isaiah 42:6Isaiah 26:3
• “Keeping loyal love for thousands” Exodus 34:7
• Guarding the tongue and the heart Psalms 34:13Proverbs 4:23
• Guarding the instruction and the testimonies Psalms 119:34Psalms 25:10
• Watchmen; “guardian of human beings” 2 Kings 17:9Job 7:20

How we translate it

“Guard” 25 times and “keep” 11. In the Psalms נָצַר is “guard” and שָׁמַר “keep”, so that the two words can be told apart when they go together (“I will guard your instruction and keep it”, Psalm 119:34); in Exodus 34:7 it is “keeping loyal love”, and in Isaiah 42:6 “I will keep you”.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• guard ×25
• keep ×11
• I have guarded ×3
• guards ×3
• Whoever watches ×2
• guarded ×2
• watchmen ×2
• Besiegers ×1
• Whoever keeps ×1
• Whoever tends ×1
• others ×12

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Exodus×1
• Deuteronomy×2
• 2 Kings×2
• Job×2
• Psalms×24
• Proverbs×19
• Isaiah×9
• Jeremiah×2
• Ezekiel×1
• Nahum×1

• Exodus 34:7

  keeping loyal love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, calling to account the iniquity of fathers on sons and on sons’ sons, to the third and to the fourth generation.”

• Deuteronomy 32:10

  He found him in a land of wilderness, and in an emptiness of howling, a wasteland; he surrounded him, he cared for him, he guarded him like the pupil of his eye.

• Deuteronomy 33:9

  who says of his father and of his mother, ‘I have not seen him’; and his brothers he did not acknowledge, and his sons he did not know, for they kept your word and guard your covenant.

• 2 Kings 17:9

  The sons of Israel did secretly things that were not right against YHWH their Elohim; they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city.

• 2 Kings 18:8

  He struck the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territories, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city.

• Job 7:20

  I have sinned; what do I do to you, guardian of human beings? Why have you set me as your target, so that I am a burden to myself?

• Job 27:18

  He builds his house like the moth, and like a hut that a watchman makes.

• Psalms 12:7

  You, YHWH, will keep them; you will guard him from this generation forever.

• Psalms 25:10

  All the paths of YHWH are loyal love and faithfulness for those who guard his covenant and his testimonies.

• Psalms 25:21

  May integrity and uprightness guard me, for I have waited for you.

• Psalms 31:23

  Love YHWH, all his faithful ones! The trustworthy YHWH guards, and he repays in full the one who acts with pride.

• Psalms 32:7

  You are my hiding place; from distress you will guard me; with shouts of joy of deliverance you will surround me. Selah.

• Psalms 34:13

  Guard your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.

• Psalms 40:11

  You, YHWH, will not withhold your mercies from me; your loyal love and your truth will continually guard me.

• Psalms 61:7

  He will sit forever before Elohim; loyal love and truth appoint, that they may guard him.

• Psalms 64:1

  For the director. A psalm of David. Hear, Elohim, my voice in my complaint; from the dread of the enemy guard my life.

• Psalms 78:7

  and put in Elohim their confidence, and not forget the works of El, and keep his commandments,

• Psalms 105:45

  so that they might keep his statutes and observe his instructions. Praise Yah.

• Psalms 119:2

  Happy are those who guard his testimonies, who with all their heart seek him.

• Psalms 119:22

  Roll away from me reproach and contempt, for your testimonies I have guarded.

• Psalms 119:33

  Instruct me, YHWH, in the way of your statutes, and I will guard it to the end.

• Psalms 119:34

  Make me understand, and I will guard your instruction and keep it with all my heart.

• Psalms 119:56

  This has been mine, that your precepts I have guarded.

• Psalms 119:69

  The insolent have smeared lies against me; I, with all my heart, will guard your precepts.

• Psalms 119:100

  I understand more than the elders, for your precepts I have guarded.

• Psalms 119:115

  Depart from me, evildoers, and I will guard the commandments of my Elohim.

• Psalms 119:129

  Wonders are your testimonies; therefore my soul guards them.

• Psalms 119:145

  I have called with all my heart; answer me, YHWH; your statutes I will guard.

• Psalms 140:1

  For the director. A psalm of David. Rescue me, YHWH, from the evil human being; from the man of violent deeds guard me,

• Psalms 140:4

  Keep me, YHWH, from the hands of the wicked; from the man of violent deeds guard me, who have devised to thrust aside my steps.

• Psalms 141:3

  Set, YHWH, a guard over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips.

• Proverbs 2:8

  to guard the paths of justice; and the way of his faithful ones he keeps.

• Proverbs 2:11

  Discretion will watch over you; insight will guard you,

• Proverbs 3:1

  My son, do not forget my instruction, and let your heart keep my commandments;

• Proverbs 3:21

  My son, let them not slip from your eyes; keep sound judgment and discretion;

• Proverbs 4:6

  Do not abandon her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you.

• Proverbs 4:13

  Take hold of correction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life.

• Proverbs 4:23

  More than all that is guarded, guard your heart, for from it come the outgoings of life.

• Proverbs 5:2

  to keep discretion, and that your lips may guard knowledge.

• Proverbs 6:20

  Keep, my son, the commandment of your father, and do not abandon the instruction of your mother.

And 23 more times.